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Labour demands emergency budget to address NHS winter crisis

The Labour party has asked the Government to deliver an emergency budget for the NHS to finally address the winter crisis, at a party rally in central London.

It comes as the party found that about 24% of patients in two of the 20 cabinet member constituencies had to wait for more than 30 minutes in the back of ambulances, while hospitals in the constituencies of all 20 cabinet members have reached ‘dangerously full hospitals’.

Labour presented a motion to parliament two weeks ago, asking the Government to fund hospitals to ‘resume full service’ amid winter pressures and after MP and GP Dr Paul Williams told his fellow MPs that cancelling non-urgent NHS operations will do more harm than good.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was be at the rally with shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth.

Mr Corbyn said: ‘The Tories are failing our NHS. There must be no mistake: the NHS crisis is being caused by the political choices of this Tory Government.

‘The Government is failing staff, patients and their families across the whole country. All 20 members of the cabinet’s own constituencies have dangerously full hospitals, with patients stuck in the back of ambulances and on trolleys.’

The Labour party analysis also showed that the Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which is in Boris Johnson’s constituency, has average bed occupancy of 99.3%. It comes after rumors revealed that Boris Johnson wanted to use a cabinet meeting to ask for an extra £5bn a year to be injected in the NHS. 

Mr Ashworth said: ‘Our new analysis reveals that her entire inner circle is facing a disastrous winter crisis in their own backyards, with average bed occupancy in the cabinet at 95% this winter.

‘Perhaps her closest allies will now pressurise the Prime Minister into heeding Labour’s call for an emergency budget of £5bn for our NHS.’